The Hester Street Collaborative Fosters Local Resiliency

Based (well, obviously) on Hester Street in New York City, the Hester Street Collaborative (HSC) is an organization that works to get both young people and community dwellers to make an impact in how their local environments are designed as well as to advocate for the strengthening of those communities.

"Whether it is the creation of a new public park, playground, installation, or school garden, our work always begins when a community identifies the need for a project," the head of HSC, Anne Fredericks -- who studied architecture at Parsons -- told Fast Co Exist's Rachael Chong. "We work together to shape a bottom-up, participatory process where local knowledge is met with design expertise to transform underutilized or neglected public spaces."